The invention relates to machines and systems for finishing documents such as by stapling, folding, binding and otherwise processing multiple document sheets.
Various machinery exists for creating books, booklets, folders, leaflets and other documents made from one or more paper sheets. Such machinery, often referred to as xe2x80x9cfinishingxe2x80x9d machinery, is able to perform various types of operations such as trimming, folding, stapling, saddle stapling, spiral-back binding, glue binding, etc.
Many finishing machines are extremely flexible, and can be dynamically configured to assemble many different document configurations. The machines are typically configured by an operator, who specifies variable parameters such as size, number of sheets per document, locations of folds, stapling or binding details, etc.
The capabilities of these machines of course vary with cost and complexity of the machines. Higher-end machines perform both printing and finishing, allowing an operator to specify printing and finishing configuration parameters from a single user interface. In other cases, individual document sheets are printed, collected by an operator, and then manually submitted to a standalone finishing machine. The term xe2x80x9cstandalonexe2x80x9d is used to describe finishing machines that are not under control of the same computer or processor that produces the printed document sheets.
There are advantages to standalone finishing machines. One advantage is that they can be used to assemble document sheets regardless of the system used to print the sheets. Another advantage is that standalone finishing machines are often less expensive than machines that have integrated printing capabilities.
One disadvantage of standalone finishing machines, however, is that they do not normally permit a single user interface through which both printing and finishing parameters can be specified. In most cases, the printing operation is performed with a device such as a desktop computer and associated printer. Once the document sheets are printed, they are manually transferred to the finishing machine, which must then be independently configured to appropriately assemble the printed sheets into a finished document.
This process presents a significant potential for confusion and error. In many cases, the finishing machine is operated by someone other than the person who printed the sheets. In these cases, instructions for document finishing are often given orally. This can be a significant source of confusion. In other cases, a single operator might be responsible for both printing and finishing. Even so, the necessity of configuring two incompatible systems (the printing system and the finishing system) often results in configuration errors.
In accordance with the invention, individual sheets of a document are printed by a computer and then submitted to a standalone finishing machine. In conjunction with printing the individual sheets, the computer prompts the operator for finishing instructions and then prints an instruction sheet to accompany the individual document sheets. Alternatively, the instructions might be printed on each sheet, in a location that will eventually be hidden in binding or trimmed. The instruction sheet has finishing instructions in machine-readable format such as in a barcode. The instructions specify parameters related to finishing, such as paper size, binding type, binding details, page number in a sequence, trimming parameters, etc. When the sheets are submitted to the finishing machine, the finishing machine first scans the machine-readable instructions. The finishing machine then configures itself in accordance with the instructions and finishes the specified documents accordingly.
In addition to the instruction sheet, it is desirable for the computer to place marks in each document sheet, indicating any special processing that is to be performed on that sheet and also indicating the relative position of the sheet relative to other sheets. This allows the finishing machine to implement special handling for individual sheets and to detect out-of-sequence sheets. The marks are preferably positioned to be inconspicuous in the final assembled document. Alternatively, the marks are made using an ink that is not visible to the unaided human eye.